The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy: The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy

March 2, 2024 11:04 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

Animated series that does just what it says in the tin: takes a comedic look at the title institution. You could call it "Star Trek: Lower Decks only just the sick bay, but larger and with more doctors and people" or "Rick and Morty meets Scrubs," and you wouldn't exactly be wrong, but it seems maybe a little bit more than that.

On Amazon Prime; here's the trailer. I don't know if there's a term for the type of sitcom that's basically "two gals, one's more neurotic and one's more freewheeling/horny", maybe like Broad City and Tuca & Bertie. They're two doctors who are more interested in landing a big research grant than saving lives, at least at the beginning. Stephanie Hsu and Kiki Palmer play Drs. Sleech and Klak, respectively, with a bunch of other interesting casting choices in there; at one point, John Waters shows up. (Not as himself, obviously.) If you don't mind talking tumors and blood in highlighter colors, this might be the 21C animated skiffy comedy for you.

posted by Halloween Jack (7 comments total)

I just watched the first couple episodes with my wife, and while we enjoyed it, it does feel like... it's not quite as good as it should be? You can feel the talent, but somehow a lot the jokes don't land. I'd be curious to hear from others if it just takes a couple episodes to find it's footing.

Amusingly, we've been watching this in parallel with Scavengers Reign. It sort of feels like the two shows were twins separated at birth whose lives took them in completely different directions.
posted by Alex404 at 10:45 AM on March 3, 2024

Thanks for the tip! My household may check this out.
posted by brainwane at 9:46 AM on March 4, 2024

I found it to be not so much funny in some aspects as just making really pointed comments about things. For example, the robot doctor making an emotional connection with the guy slowly coming out of cryo via the brain-hookup-thing and not realizing what will happen when he fully wakes up. Or Klak's mom being kind of a narcissist who's become a celebrity by writing about her daughter's anxieties growing up, and how she can't seem to see her daughter, even as an adult (and apparently a really good doctor), as anything but an adjunct to her own fame.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:25 PM on March 4, 2024 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed it enough to watch in one sitting. I agree that it's not hilarious, but seems to be a scifi'd up version of those hospital dramas with a touch of silliness..
posted by Marticus at 1:47 PM on March 4, 2024

It took me a few days to finish it, but I thought that it was surprisingly sharp in its criticisms of corporate health care (via the big conglomerate that owned what I suppose was the best hospital in the galaxy) and their role in the overarching season plot. I also note that the music for the show was done by Wendy and Lisa, formerly of Prince's The Revolution.

Alex404, I watched the first episode of Scavengers Reign, and I'm not sure that I'd call them "twins separated at birth" because they are so very, very different; they do have the commonality of "aliens that are really alien", I guess. I'll be working on that series next.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:02 AM on March 9, 2024 [1 favorite]

Just finished the series and found it entertaining and insightful. The sight gags and bits were thoughtful and hilarious, but I stayed for the commentary.

Maybe it's the microplastics in my testicles making me hormonal, or maybe I'm spending too much time pondering the implications of a(nother) multinational food company funding paramilitary death squads, but the allegory of the brain worm mutating under integrated galactic capitalism's pollutants and how the corporation tries to buy doctors' silence hits particularly hard these days.
posted by Richard Saunders at 8:05 PM on June 12, 2024 [1 favorite]

Thank you for recommending this! My household enjoyed it!
posted by brainwane at 10:34 AM on January 7